The Rescue Party
by crazyrubsoff
Summary: In which the Straw Hat pirates find out about Ace's capture earlier than canon and immediately launch a rescue attempt. Ace lives!
**AN**

I wrote this thing in three days and spent two typing, so you know it's going to be bad. Haven't had anyone beta read it either.

(If you cared about that, you wouldn't be reading fanfiction!)

Warning: Death, suicidal recklessness, no punches pulled, writing POV experimentation,

 **The Rescue Party.**

 _"_ _Whatever happens," He said, "please make sure our idiot gets out of here alive." His three compatriots nodded their agreement. "It's selfish of us and he'll hate it, but we couldn't bear it if something were to happen to him."_

 **Sabaody – Straw Hat Pirates**

On this day Sabaody archipelago was in chaos. While this wasn't too unusual for the mangroves, this particular chaos was more than the residents were used to dealing with. On this day somebody – one of the many rookie pirates that pass through the area – had done the unthinkable. This somebody had punched one of Tenryuubito. Wanting to hurt one of the nobles of the world wasn't that unusual; everybody who came into contact with them couldn't help but dislike them. Them, and the way they had no regards for human life or the people who lived those lives.

But on this day, somebody had given in and punched a world noble. On this day, pirates and marines were running all over the island, cursing the idiot that had the balls to stir up something a lot worse than a hornet's nest.

Of course, after all the things he's pulled and been involved in, it wouldn't come as a surprise to the informed public that the crazy fool to mess with the most powerful people in the world would be "Straw Hat" Monkey D Luffy.

The same Straw Hat Luffy that everyone would have liked to either kill or congratulate - or both – was now hiding in one of Sabaody's pricier bars. Set in the heart of the lawless zone, Shakky's rip-off bar was true to its name.

In this bar, besides Straw Hat and his crew, there were a mermaid and a fishman, a starfish and two retired pirates. These gathered people were planning how to get off the island without getting caught by the marines. It was when they almost had a plan decided upon that Shakky remembered something.

"Before you go, Ray-san," she said, "there was something in the paper about that other kid you've been keeping an eye on." She handed over the mentioned news rag and took a drag of her cigarette.

"Oh? What's he done this time?" Taking the paper, Rayleigh read the article that was being pointed out to him.

"You keep an eye on certain people? Are they people we should be worried about?" Usopp asked, trying to get around to see the article. Rayleigh folded the paper and leant on it so he couldn't see.

"It's good for me to know what sort of troublemakers are going to be punching Tenryuubito and raiding the auction houses." Rayleigh said pointedly, raising his eyebrow, "and of course you should be worried, your opponents are only going to be getting stronger in the New World and sailing under a D isn't exactly the epitome of self preservation"

"Self preservation?" Luffy asked, "What's that?" There were a number of sighs and three older chuckles in response.

"So is this guy you're following going to cause trouble?" Nami asked. She took the paper while his guard was down, flipping through to find the article of interest.

"He already has. Almost as much as you lot, now the marines have him. You should be careful; there's going to be war and the balance of power _will_ change because of it."

"War?" Chopper squeaked, "With whom?"

"Whitebeard." Rayleigh told them curtly. "He protects about half the islands in the New World and has thousands of pirates either allied with him or part of his crew."

"Whitebeard?" Luffy asked, "Whitebeard, Whitebeard…" His face was starting to turn red with how hard he was thinking.

"Your brother is on his crew." Zoro helpfully supplied.

"You have a brother, Monkey-Chan?" Shakky asked.

"Yeah!" Luffy confirmed, "But I'm not worried. He's strong and can take care of himself." Nami handed the paper over to Zoro with a sombre look on her face.

"So you're not going to do something more stupid than you already have and try to save another captain's crewmember? That tends to- When did you take my paper?"

"It wouldn't be too out of character for us." Robin told him blithely, sprouting a third eye on Sanji's head when he took the paper from a frozen Zoro.

"True, but you really don't want the attention you'll get from the government if you associate with Gold Roger's son." Robin, Sanji, Zoro and Nami looked at him in sheer horror. Brook frowned down at the newspaper Sanji had been in the process of handing him. Usopp turned to cut Luffy off.

"We are not storming Impel Down just because they have the pirate king's son."

"That's okay, you're not coming." Luffy told him, expression sad but determined. "None of you are coming, I'm going alone. Rayleigh," the old man in question turned a stern glare on him, words of why this was such a bad idea biting at his tongue.

"I'm going with you!" Sanji said suddenly, Zoro and Nami chorusing their agreement.

"No You're Not!" Luffy yelled, slamming his hands on the table. "Rayleigh," it was said with such force that Rayleigh was curious what Luffy was going to ask of him. "Ace hates his dad."

"What was in that paper?" Usopp asked, snatching the paper from Brook and sharing with Chopper and Franky.

"If this is personal, Luffy can't make us go with him." Brook said trying to be helpful.

"Well, if the captain is going on a personal undertaking, I will go on a personal undertaking to make sure he doesn't kill himself," Zoro exclaimed, crossing his arms and looking ready to out stubborn a D.

"No." Luffy told him, "I won't let you."

"As the crew's doctor, I need to stay with the two people most likely to get hurt," Chopper said suddenly. He mustered up the fiercest glare he could and laid it straight on Zoro's chest. This turned into a three way stare off between captain, swordsman and doctor.

"As the navigator, I have to go to make-" Nami started to say before Luffy once again slammed his hands on the table.

"No. I can't stop them, but no one else is coming with me," He declared.

"If we're splitting up, I heard a friend of mine from Alabaster is around here somewhere." Sanji said, "I might go bust him out of trouble. He's been getting into fights with the marines."

"Somebody has to make sure Sanji doesn't get beaten up by girls, so I'll go with him. We've escaped Naverone and destroyed Ennies Lobby, sacking marine prison holds sounds like fun." Nami said, fingering her climatact.

"Franky and I missed out on most the fun at Ennies Lobby, so we'll be going with them." Robin stated, simple as fact.

"Ennies Lobby?" Brook asked. "If that's what you've been doing, I feel I should go to Ennies Lobby with my captain. Yohohoho."

"No! I know what you're doing, and it's not happening." Luffy declared, crossing his arms and pouting. Shakky found the whole situation funny.

Usopp, however, found eight glares aimed his way and the curious look Rayleigh was giving him. He chose to look at the old man to avoid looking at his crew.

"Longnose-kun can stay with me and make sure there is somewhere for you all to return home to." Rayleigh said suddenly, earning thankful looks from Usopp and Luffy and dark glares from the rest of the straw hats. "A sniper would only be a liability anyway."

"How do expect to sneak the four of you into the most impenetrable prison in the world?" Hachi asked while trying to push himself up off the bench he was lounging on.

"I still don't like it." Luffy muttered darkly, staring at his food like it had personally offended him. That was a bad sign.

"Eight should be enough to steal a marine ship." Robin said suddenly.

"What's wrong with the _Sunny_?" Franky asked, offended.

"It's too conspicuous." Nami told him. "A marine ship will blend in, so we can attack before they realise what's going on. Plus, marine ships are coated in sea stone to safely get through the Calm Belt."

"Impel Down is on the border between the Grand Line and the Calm Belt, so that's probably wise," Shakky told them, pulling a paper tube out from under the bar and unrolling it to display a basic sea chart of the three naval strongholds. They pored over it well into the night.

 **Sabaody Docks – Marines.**

The chaos of Sabaody had died overnight. From new heights, to absolutely nothing. Where the day before there had been pirates, marines, slavers and Tenryuubito, today there was no one. After the incident in the human auction, the Tenryuubito had all gone home, fearing for their lives; the slavers had similarly disappeared, not wanting to be around for the backlash and the pirates had all balked, setting sail to wait for everything to blow over. This left only the marines, the locals and the odd tourist on the island.

Not wanting to be caught in anything, the tourists were all staying inside and the locals were all doing the same if they weren't brave enough to be working. This left only the marines wondering around the island, confused as to why there were less ships docked than the night before.

Several vessels seemed to have had their mooring lines cut, snapped or simply untied, several had been cut up by a large blade, some had tears in their sails, or the sails removed entirely, on some the cabins and storage had been totally ransacked, more than a few had no navigational or steering equipment and none of them had a working den den mushi. Even the baby and specialty snails had been removed.

The marines were left scratching their heads.

 **Impel Down – Straw Hat Pirates.**

"There it is." Robin said, watching the top level of the greatest prison in the world appearing out of the distance.

"I still don't like that you're coming with me." Luffy sulked, leaning against the mast of the marine ship they had commandeered.

"I'm sure none of us have any idea what you're talking about." Nami told him glibly, spinning two parts of her climatact and watching the forming clouds. "I came to keep Sanji out of trouble. We all came for our own selfish reasons. Are you going to deny us that, oh selfish captain?"

"OI!" The call came from one of the warships already docked. "Identify yourselves, no other ships were supposed to be coming."

"I call dibs on the doors." Zoro claimed suddenly, readying his swords.

"I'll make sure the marines don't follow us." Robin decided, raising her hands to faster activate her abilities.

"Robin-swan, I'll help you!" Sanji declared, the words a strange counterpoint to his serious silence.

"I'm going to freak people out by pretending to be dead." Brook chortled, the usually jovial laugh falling flat. All the pirates present were treating the situation with a level of seriousness that isn't normally seen amongst the straw hat crew.

"Oi!" The marine called again, a commander by the ranks on his shoulder and likely the second in command of his ship. "Answer me!"

"Thunderbolt tempo!" Nami cried, thrusting her third pipe into the clouds in lieu of any verbal response. Barely a second later, Zoro was rushing towards the mighty wooden doors, swords almost gleaming with the attack rippling across the blade.

"Hey! What are you-" The words were cut off by a bolt of lightning striking the commander down, seemingly unleashing a lot of chaos in a very small area.

"What? Zoro!" Chopper yelled, switching to walk point and using the other ship to run after the swordsman. "If you're not careful, you'll open your wounds!" Many marines were too dumbfounded to react, but the ones that had their wits about them enough to try to grab the reindeer found they had disembodied arms wrapped around their legs.

"Oi, Chopper! Zoro! That's not fair!" Luffy declared, flinging himself past his two nakama and bowling over the first of the guards that had shown up to see what the commotion was. He effortlessly landed on his feet and kept running for the nearest stairs, Zoro yelling after him and Chopper yelling after Zoro.

"They're pirates, capture them!" A marine suddenly yelled out from a couple of ships away. Instantly, any marines that weren't already moving were rushing towards the doorway.

"Guess the party's just getting started." Sanji noted, taking a stance in the marines' way and stubbing out his smoke. He kicked the first wave of rushers into the second and returned to his post.

"We're not going to let anybody passed us." Nami declared, assembling her climatact as she and Robin took up positions at Sanji's shoulders.

"What are you waiting for?" A loud voice suddenly demanded, "Stop them!" The command earned roars of approval from the rank and file sailors and a familiar booming laugh. "Keep laughing, Garp. That's your grandson that just rushed in." The laughter died a miserable, hollow death, Garp himself making his way to the abandoned ship. He turned already haunted eyes to the skeleton leaning against the railing, his sight locking with empty sockets.

"Are you going to stop us?" Franky asked, appearing from the stock hold, cola bottle in hand. Garp glanced at him before going back to his stare down with the windows to death. His gaze was only broken when Franky heaved the corpse over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. "It must suck, being on the side that wants to kill your grandsons." The cyborg said, turning around to see Garp's reaction. There was nothing to see. Not showing if he was disappointed or not, Franky spun around and took off.

"Look after them." Garp whispered at his shrinking back. He could have sworn he saw the skeleton nod at him, but that could have been because of the momentum of the man carrying it.

' _It's why we're here._ ' Brook thought at him, right before Franky made for the control room.

"You pirates are never going to make it out of here alive!" One marine snarled, swinging his sword at Nami. She blocked the attack with her climatact, using it as leverage to push him off.

"Don't attack a lady, idiot." Sanji growled, kicking the offending sword wielder in the gut when he readied himself for another swing. Nami used the break to detach the end piece of her climatact and spin it around a few times, watching the yellow balls float up into the storm clouds over head.

"Robin!" She called, throwing the piece of climatact itself into the clouds at the same time her nakama removed all the extra arms. Lightning struck down the battlefield, electrocuting the marines still standing. "Now!" She yelled, dragging Robin through the doorway. Sanji kicked the guard he had been fighting in the chest with enough force to launch himself to the top of the archway. He pushed off the stone to aim a fierce attack at the deck itself. The wooden platform splintered and detached from the stone of Impel Down. The following force Sanji generated while diving for Nami and Robin was enough to push it away from the prison and set it floating freely.

"Was that really wise?" He asked as the three took control of the lift and pushed a random button. The doors closed and the lift started moving down in complete silence. It was only when the compartment started swaying that anyone spoke.

"Probably not." Robin smiled, right before the lift went crashing to the bottom of the chute.

 **Shakky's Bar – Usopp and Rayleigh.**

"Usopp, where's that white snail we took from the marine ship?" Rayleigh called, holding a den den mushi in one hand and a small black book in the other.

"Shakky put it under the bar," Usopp told him; going to peek at the book after Rayleigh placed it on the table. "What does it do, anyway?"

"Don't touch that book!" Rayleigh told him, pulling the large white snail and a bunch of cords out. "What it does," he plugged the two snails into each other, "is make it so the signal can't be traced, listened to or otherwise interfered with."

"Oh," Usopp breathed, watching Rayleigh put in some numbers he was reading out of his book. "Who are we calling?"

" _Hello, this is the_ Red Force, _Yasopp speaking._ " The snail said, after only one ring.

"Dad?" Usopp exclaimed, surprised.

" _Usopp? Oi, it's my kid on the den den mushi!"_ The snail suddenly broke out in a lot of noise.

" _I'm too hung-over for this. What does he want?_ " A new voice broke into what should have been a great reunion.

"Better sober up quickly, brat." Rayleigh practically growled the words into the receiver. "I met your anchor yesterday."

" _Rayleigh?_ " The new voice asked, " _You met Luff_ y? How's he doing?"

"Caused a great deal of trouble on Sabaody, punching a Tenryuubito for shooting his fishman friend," Rayleigh reported, "now he's gone after his brother."

" _Ace? Shit! Does Whitebeard know?_ " All trace of drunkenness was gone from his voice.

"I was hoping you'd know his number." Rayleigh told him.

" _OI BENN! DO WE KNOW WHITEBEARD'S DEN DEN NUMBER?!_ " The snail suddenly yelled.

" _Not after the last time you called him while drunk, Shanks._ " A far off voice replied, " _But I could signal Marco, he's flying over at the moment._ "

" _DO IT!"_ Shanks yelled back." _How secure is this line, anyway?_ "

"We have the den den mushi hooked up to this white snail we stole from the marines." Usopp told him.

" _That's gutsy._ " Shanks replied, " _Marco's here._ "

" _You're awfully serious, Red Hair. What's the problem?_ " A new voice said.

"I need to speak to your Pops, brat." Rayleigh said, straight to business.

" _I'd like to be part of this too."_ Shanks declared.

" _We're surrounded by marines. No doubt they're listening"_ Marco sighed.

"Good thing we have a dampener hooked up. Can we talk to the old man or not?" Rayleigh growled. Usopp was starting to get scared, surrounded by such big names, even if just their voices. There was a bunch of muttering from the other end before a decision was reached.

" _I'm going to fly back to the_ Moby Dick _and Oyaji. Shanks, Benn, Yasopp and the snail are going to row around the island. The marines will have fits, but they'll get over it."_ Marco explained, before there was a flurry of activity on the other end.

The next fifteen minutes was filled with inane chatter between Usopp and Yasopp with Shanks making the odd comment while Benn rowed their small skiff to Whitebeard's ship. That stopped only when they reached their destination and Usopp was told Yasopp wouldn't be part of the next conversation.

 ** _Moby Dick –_** **Whitebeard and crew, Usopp by Den Den Mushi** ** _._**

"Hello, Red Hair," Whitebeard greeted. "What is it you want, brat?"

"It's Rayleigh." Shanks replied, holding up the snail.

" _Rayleigh stepped out."_ Usopp said from the other end.

"And who are you, brat?" Whitebeard asked.

" _I'm Usopp, legendary sniper of the Straw Hat Pirates._ "

"Your captain left it to you to talk to me, instead of doing it himself?" Whitebeard asked, unimpressed.

" _No, we've split up."_ Usopp told him, " _Everyone else is taking care of some personal stuff. Rayleigh just decided I had to help him make his calls._ "

"So what is everyone doing?" Haruta called up from the lower deck. Usopp decided to answer them anyway.

" _Sanji wanted to rescue a friend he made on one of our adventures from marine captivity, Nami decided he needed watching and Robin decided it sounded fun so she and Franky went with them. Brook wanted to total a marine base somewhere too. Chopper went with Zoro to make sure he doesn't reopen his injuries."_ He stopped, but Whitebeard made a sound to indicate he should continue. " _Zoro wanted to go with Luffy, because Sea knows our captain can find trouble sitting still, and Luffy went to find his brother. That's our entire crew."_ He ticked everyone off on his fingers to make sure.

"That sounds like a lot of bullshit, brat!" Whitebeard told him sternly.

" _That's why we need to talk to you._ " Rayleigh said, walking down the stairs back into Shakky's bar.

"What's the problem?" Whitebeard asked, "You don't think those brats can handle their own bogus prison breaks?" Usopp didn't like the mocking tone in his voice.

" _It's not bogus!_ " He shouted, " _That's just how everyone got Luffy to agree to it. He wanted to rescue Ace alone!"_

"Your crew have decided to rescue my crewmate?" Whitebeard asked darkly, "Is that why you and Shanks are so keen to be involved, Rayleigh? Because of whose blood Ace shares?"

"Of course not!" Shanks exclaimed, "I have a personal interest in seeing Luffy become king." He subconsciously grabbed at his empty shoulder in his emotional state, "But he's put that aside to rescue his brother, which doesn't mean anything good for the war you and Sengoku seem so keen to have." Whitebeard was moved, if his next words were any indication.

"Okay, we'll help." Then to the rest of the Whitebeard pirates, "We move on Impel Down, prepare to set sail." The declaration was met by loud cheers and a flurry of activity.

 **Impel Down, Level 1 – Luffy, Zoro and Chopper.**

Luffy, chased by Zoro and Chopper, ran down his chosen set of stairs and found himself in a maze of corridors and cells.

"ACE!" Luffy yelled, checking all the cells he ran passed for his brother.

"Straw Hat?" One cell's occupant asked, Buggy walking out of the shadows and then straight between the bars. "What are you doing here? Did you get caught too? Are you breaking out?"

"No. I came in here to rescue my brother, Ace." Luffy told him.

"Your brother?!" Buggy screeched, looking at Zoro to tell him otherwise.

"Fire Fist." Zoro grunted, providing a name more recognisable.

"Fire Fist is your brother?" Buggy screeched again, before thinking it over. "If he's in here, he'd be a level 5 prisoner."

"Take us to him." Zoro demanded, brandishing his swords at the clown.

"That won't work, remember. I'm a chop chop man." Buggy told him imperiously.

"Right," Zoro agreed. He then swept his sword through Buggy's neck and used his free hand to grab the separated head. "Let's go, Luffy."

"Yosh." Luffy agreed, leading the way.

"Zoro, that's really creepy." Chopper said, eying Buggy's head with no small amount of disdain.

"You're telling me." Buggy complained. Chopper screamed and switched to brain point in his fright, gibbering about how the severed head was talking. Buggy's body, forced to run after its head, picked him up. "Says the talking reindeer," Buggy muttered. "Alright I'll tell you so stop running around in circles."

 **Impel Down, Sea Level – Franky and Brook.**

"Franky didn't have much trouble with the guards; he thought Brook was probably the reason for that, the skeleton freaking out the guards that would have otherwise attacked. Facing no opposition, he turned down a corridor and kept running.

"Oi, you there!" One very brave guard called out, standing in the middle of the road. Franky moved his right hand away from Brook's knees and pointed his fist at the guard.

"Strong Right!" Franky called, launching his fist at the guard and continuing on his way. He stopped when he came to a door that left no doubt as to what was behind it. "Look, Brook. We found the control room." Franky said, placing his partner on his feet.

"So we have, yohohoho." Brook replied, drawing his sword from his cane and gesturing Franky to focus on the door. The moment the doorway was open, Brook rushed in and slashed all the occupants inside with his _arrow notch slice_.

"They're not being very subtle," Franky remarked as, while they were watching, Luffy ran onto a screen followed by Zoro. Behind Zoro was a headless body grasping at something in Zoro's hand and Chopper was following the body that was reattaching its head. The now complete Buggy took the lead followed by Luffy and Chopper while Zoro turned and ran down a random corridor.

"They'll be fine." Brook told him, looking at the control panel.

"That's true. Hey, I found the controls to the gates." Franky immediately started messing with the buttons to make the doors open fully. He then peeled of some of the metal panels hiding the electronics to the controls. The instant an alert sounded that the gates were fully open, he yanked out the wires and shot a weapons left straight into the desk and surveillance screens. "Let's go."

"There were these beastly blue things in the same area as Zoro; do you think they'll be alright?" Brook asked, following him back into the corridor.

"They're strong, no need to worry." Franky told him, turning down a set of stairs labelled 'Level 2'. He'd destroyed the feed before they could see the blugori cut Zoro down and abandon him to bleed out.

 **Impel Down, Level 6 – Sanji, Nami and Robin.**

As soon as the lift crashed to the bottom, Sanji ran out into the corridor between the cells and looked into them.

"Sanji, wait." Nami called, running after him. "Robin, tell him." Robin was not actually following them but looking into the cells closer to the lift.

"Excuse me, prisoner-san." She said demurely, "are you able to please tell me where Portgas D Ace is?" The prisoners in the cell laughed and jeered at her, but someone further in called out to them.

"Who wants to know?"

"This way," Nami pointed, running off towards the voice and trusting her friends would follow. "Ace," she breathed upon reaching her destination. Sanji and Robin came up behind her.

"Aren't you Luffy's crew?" Ace asked them, "What are you doing here?"

"We came to rescue you." Robin told him while Sanji kicked at the door to the cell, focusing on the hinges.

"Why?" Ace asked, holding still as Sanji kicked at the chains bolting him to the wall.

"Luffy wanted to. We couldn't let him do it alone." Sanji told him before turning on the only other occupant in the cell, a fishman. "Who are you and whose side are you on?"

"That's Jimbei; can you let him out too? And where is my flaky little brother?" Ace answered, holding his arms out for Nami to pick the locks on the shackles still attached to his wrists.

"Shitty captain ran off." Sanji told him curtly, helping Jimbei to his feet.

"Sounds like him," Ace sighed. "How are we getting out of here?" The question seemed rather stupid as Sanji had already kicked a hole in the ceiling and a fleshy looking ladder was materialising towards them. "Right, that's how."

 **Impel Down, Level 4 – Luffy, Chopper and friends.**

Somehow Luffy, Chopper and Buggy had gained the help of Mr 3 and Mr 2 and made it as far down as the fourth level before they came across any serious trouble. Chopper, Buggy and Mr 3 would all have been glad to not run into the prison warden, Magellan; especially since Zoro had wondered off a few floors ago and had yet to show up again.

The fight against Magellan was not much of one. Chopper and the ex-prisoners had stayed well away from any lethal poison while Luffy decided running away was stupid and turned to attack. The ensuing struggle came to an end when Luffy was too poisoned to continue and Magellan had him thrown in the level 5 cells. As soon as the coast was clear, Mr 2 and Chopper dragged Mr 3 and Buggy into the frozen wasteland to rescue him and take him to the miracle worker Ivankov. Buggy and Mr 3 ran off the moment they had the chance and Chopper and Mr 2 ended up passing out while they'd been attacked by wolves, staying ahead of them for a while only because Chopper carried Luffy on his back.

 **Impel Down, Level 2 – Franky and Brook.**

Franky and Brook found themselves being attacked by lions not long after reaching the base of the stairs they had run down. At first they didn't have too much of a problem, but more kept coming. Eventually Franky got swarmed and wasn't able to pay much attention to how the skeleton was doing, which he should have been doing because this was Brook's first foray as a Straw Hat pirate.

"Are you doing okay, Bones-bro?"He asked when the number of lions attacking him had significantly decreased. He asked again when there was no answer, "Bones-bro?" Franky was starting to get concerned, and started pushing his way through the strangely docile lions. "Bones-bro?" He asked again, pausing when his foot sent something skidding across the stone floor. His eyes were drawn to the sound, made by a human skull with an afro and Franky didn't need to keep looking. He didn't need to see the bones the lions were chewing on to know why Brook wasn't answering.

"What do we have here?" A squeaky voice asked. Franky spun around to see a dwarf holding a large axe. He looked menacing for someone with such a disproportionate head.

 **Impel Down, Level 6's Ceiling – Sanji, Nami, Robin, Ace and Jimbei.**

Sanji, Nami, Robin, Ace and Jimbei found themselves wondering through a series of corridors that did not seem to be an official part of the prison. There were no guards or cells, no lighting and no prisoners. What there was, however, was the far off sounds of a party. Following those sounds led the five pirates to a door. On the other side of the door – which Sanji had unceremoniously kicked in – was a large cavernous room where there was, indeed, a party. They stood, unsure, in the doorway until they were seen by the guy on stage everyone was calling Iva-sama.

"Who are you and why are you just standing there? Join the party!" Ivankov called, rushing down from the stage to stand in front of the interlopers.

"Who are we?" Ace breathed, awe and shock warring on his face.

"More importantly, how do we find our nakama and get out of here?" Sanji interrupted, lighting a cigarette and taking a drag.

"Your entire crew was captured? Who are they, maybe we've found them." Ivankov asked, before catching sight of the non-human with them. "Why is Jimbei, knight of the sea with you?

"This is a rescue mission. Our captain has a tendency to run off, so we ended up separating."Robin told him. "Now that we've freed his brother, we need to find him and get out of here."

"There's no getting out of Impel Down."Ivankov told them, just as Ace collapsed asleep. "Is that Fire Fist Ace? You rescued Whitebeard's Fire Fist Ace? Huh, I didn't believe the rumours he's narcoleptic. You lot look tired too, you should get some sleep. Just because I like you, I'll get my people to keep an eye out for your nakama."

"No way!" Sanji exclaimed, "We have to find our shitty captain and crewmembers and get out of here."

"He's right," Robin said quietly. "We've nearly been awake for two days. It's amazing everybody is still going. We should sleep."

"Robin-chwan, we can't trust them." Sanji refused.

"We don't have much of a choice. I'll stay awake to make sure they really are helping us look for Luffy and when one of you wakes up we can swap." It took a bit more arguing and some negotiation, but eventually they came to an agreement.

Ace took over the vigil from Robin when he woke up several hours later, her and Jimbei telling him what was going on.

"So what's your story? Why are you in here?" Ivankov asked Ace after several minutes of awkward silence.

"I was chasing a traitor, caught up to him and he pounded me into the dirt. Got handed over to the marines as a bargaining chip and locked up in here pending execution before Luffy's crew busted me out. What about you?"

"I'm a higher up in the revolutionary army." Ivankov started to tell him but was interrupted by Ace's sudden outburst.

"The revolutionaries? You work for Dragon?"He was scowling fiercely, like someone had done something to personally offend him. It needed digging.

"You don't like Dragon?" Ivankov asked carefully.

"What sort of jerk-arse father asks Garp to look after their kid when they're able to do it themselves? At least my useless father is dead and had no idea what sort of psychopath the geezer is."

"You were raised by the Marine Hero Garp?" Ivankov asked, before backtracking quickly. "Dragon doesn't have a kid."

"Monkey D Dragon, son of Monkey D Garp and father to my sworn brother Monkey D Luffy."

"I don't believe you." Ivankov told him, "Not even Sabo would believe you and he's a gullible amnesiac."

"What did you say?" Ace asked suddenly, face completely and disturbingly blank.

"That you're obviously lying."

"Not that. Who's Sabo?"

Ace demanded.

"A revolutionary." Ivankov told him sternly, wondering what was with this new line of questioning. "About your age, amnesiac. We rescued him about ten years ago when his fishing boat was destroyed."

"This is a very tense atmosphere." Jimbei said, suddenly walking up to them. Ace was outright glaring at Ivankov and Ivankov was glaring back.

"I had a brother called Sabo." Ace muttered eventually, "blond, blue eyes. He tried to set sail and become a pirate when we were ten, but his boat was shot before he could even leave the harbour."

"Was this in Goa, because that sounds a lot like our Sabo?" Ivankov said, just as someone ran in saying they had found Luffy. Ivankov ran out, leaving just Ace and Jimbei.

"Ace?" Jimbei asked, "Are you okay?"Ace shook his head but remained silent. "I'll go wake the others up, then." Jimbei decided, ignoring the stifled sobs as he left.

 **Impel Down, Newkamadom – Luffy and co, Ace and co, Okama.**

When Luffy woke up eighteen hours and a miracle healing treatment later, Sanji, Nami, Robin, Ace and Chopper were waiting for him; The okama hadn't been able to find Zoro, Franky or Brook yet.

"What are you?" Ivankov asked him when he immediately went to check on his crewmates despite being little better than death warmed up himself. His crewmates all assured him they were okay – even though they clearly weren't – and got him caught up on everything that had been happening.

"We've got to go!" Luffy yelled, determination blazing in his eyes even as his muscles gave out on him. He started using his chin to drag himself across the floor.

"It's not happening. There are guards all over the prison looking for you and your brother. If you go rushing around you'll just be slaughtered." Far off screaming and a new arrival told everyone present that Ivankov's newkama paradise had just been compromised and the whole subject was a moot point anyway. "Never mind, we're leaving ." Ivankov slung Luffy over his shoulder and everyone made for the exit into Level 5.

"We'll hold them off." Someone yelled and a bunch of okama spun around to fight the guards. Chopper was panting hard from a combination of pain and exhaustion and he knew he'd taken in too much poison to survive much longer.

"Sorry Luffy."Chopper called, getting the shocked attention of everyone still running, "but I'm going down fighting." With those parting words, he spun around and charged at the guards with the okama that had decided to stay behind.

"Chopper!" Luffy called out from where he was still being held by Ivankov, but he lost sight of the little reindeer when they turned a corner.

There were more guards waiting for them when they made it out into the snow. The rest of the okama, Mr 2 included, stayed behind to fight them. "Keep running! Make it out!" Mr 2 called after them, launching himself into the fight.

When they reached the fourth level, they had a clear run, made possible by the okama entertaining the guards beneath them. They'd managed to make it halfway to the stairs leading straight to the second floor when the vice-warden Hanyabal jumped out of the shadows behind them. He swung his spear at the person trailing behind the group – Nami – only to have her spin around and block the blade with her climatact.

Robin swung around at the sound. In an instant she was able to take in the two fighters and the squad of guards rushing towards her. She bloomed arms on the running guards to hold them off, but she was exhausted and couldn't muster the strength to follow through into an attack.

Hanyabal swung the butt of his spear into Nami's side when she was watching the bladed end and relished the cry of pain she couldn't contain.

"Nami!" Robin yelled, staring at her downed friend as she didn't get up. The lapse of concentration loosened her grip enough for one of the guards to break and he lunged towards her sword point first. The steel had already pierced through flesh by the time Robin had finished turning around.

"Nami! Robin!"Luffy yelled from the back of Ivankov's shoulder. Sanji, leading the charge and fifty metres from the stairs, spun around, foot aflame and ready to leap to the girls' rescue.

"Your mine, pretty boy," The she-guard, Sadie, said. She stepped out of the shadows and snapped her whip ominously. The rest of the group had already run ahead, so the only one who saw Sanji's flames go out just before his foot connected was Luffy.

"Sanji!" Luffy screamed. He was outright crying by the time they reached the second floor; Ace in the lead, followed by Jimbei and Ivankov carrying Luffy with Inazuma bringing up the rear. He really wasn't sure what to think when the group slowed down from their breakneck pace, only able to see where they'd been.

"We found your cyborg and skeleton." Inazuma said carefully, looking around the space. Pieces of shattered bone lay all over the floor, broken up here and there with pieces that were a mix of man and machine. Franky's right hand was still wrapped around the throat of the man that killed him. His left arm was still connected to his shoulder, there being enough of him that he was able to cradle Brook's skull in his elbow. Luffy wasn't even coherent when he cried their names this time.

The group moved on, gaining Buggy and Mr 3 along the way before running into Magellan. The poison man was taken out surprisingly easily by a Hiken from Ace and they were making their way to the first floor. This time they didn't stop when they passed the bled out corpse of Zoro, an apology written out in the blood by his hand, but Luffy still broke out into a fresh wave of tears when he saw it.

When they finally made it to the exit there was a very strange but welcoming sight to be seen: Whitebeard's _Moby Dick_ was floating next to the underwater prison, the Whitebeard pirates themselves were fighting a large number of marines.

"We leave as soon as they're on!" Whitebeard boomed over the battlefield. All the fighting pirates fled back to their ship just as Ace landed on the deck. He was followed by Jimbei, Buggy, Mr 3, Ivankov and once again Inazuma was bringing up the rear. True to his word, Whitebeard yelled the order to set sail and the _Moby Dick_ paddled away.

Ivankov gently placed an unresponsive Luffy down on the deck and sat beside him, watching Ace make his way over to his captain.

"Pops," He said, choking on the rest of the words he wanted to say.

"Welcome home, son." Whitebeard told him, "Is your brother okay?"

"Just like that?" Ace asked him, "I disobeyed you and you welcome me home just like that?"

"Of course. You're my son." Ace burst out into tears, his emotional control weakened after several months of stress and marines. He moved over to his Oyaji when the man held his arms out to him. When he calmed down enough to look over and check on Luffy, he saw that his brother had been joined by his last living crewmember.

Ace passed out from exhaustion shortly after seeing Impel Down explode, the stone framework filling up with water.

 ** _Moby Dick_** **–** **Luffy and Usopp**

Everything was almost back to normal on board the _Moby Dick_ several days after the destruction of Impel Down. The only thing severely out of place was the extra people milling about on deck and the presence of the entire Red Haired pirate crew.

That changed when Luffy finally woke up.

"Why did we leave them?!" Luffy screamed at Ivankov, holding the drag queen by his clothing.

"Because they told me to." Ivankov told him calmly, "they just wanted to know that you would get out of there alive. They asked me to make sure it happened."

"Our friends went in there knowing they might not make it out alive." Usopp said, walking over with Luffy's Straw Hat in hand, holding it out for his captain to take. "Just like every other adventure we go on."

"I didn't want them to come!" Luffy yelled at him. "They shouldn't have come!"

"But they did anyway. That's how far we would follow you. Brook would have played music until he died, if you asked. Franky would have built anything if you asked for it. Robin was always researching so she could get us out of any situation, Chopper doing the same thing with his medicine books. Sanji cooked us food fit for kings, just to fill your stomach while Nami managed to navigate us into the sky! Zoro was ready to follow you to the depths of hell, if you decided to take over. We all were prepared to follow you to the ends of the world and beyond, as far as we could go.

"Just because we only got this far doesn't mean they won't be waiting for us on the other side. Let's continue, captain. Let's do it for them." Luffy calmed down a bit and accepted his hat back. He fiddled with it in his hands a few moments before looking back at his last crewmember.

"I need time. I don't know how long, but Straw Hat Luffy is going on leave. Will you wait for me?" He held the hat out for Usopp to take back.

"Of course. Anything for my captain, take as long as you need." Usopp answered, putting the hat on his own head. "I'll be on the Red Force until then. It's a promise."

"We'll start at the revolutionaries." Ace said, showing up behind the two like he hadn't been unrepentantly eavesdropping. "I've got a blond to meet, and Luffy his father."

 **AN**

I did say it was going to be bad. It really deserves 50,000 words and a better, more committed writer  
than me... But no one actually seems inclined, so me is what it got.  
If you agree and are similarly disinclined, send me a message, we might be able to become inclined together, and I feel I might be able to put flesh and blood into my skeleton at a later date... I wrote this on a 5000 word limit that I very much did not stick to just so I could get it out of my brain!

I feel this train wreck I have written highlights just how dangerous a guy like Luffy can be on those who respect and follow him. Or society.


End file.
